There is a talk of Seattle and Portland getting World Cup Qualifying games this upcoming year which would be a new thing considering the whole grass\turf thing. Not sure what they would do to make it grass but this is an interesting development. After all their bitching and complaining they better bring a huge pro American crowd.

Thirteen of Sporting Kansas City's MLS regular season matches in 2013 will be shown on national television in the United States, including six home matches. Eight games will air on the NBC Sports Network, three on UniMas and two on ESPN.

- Every Sporting Kansas City regular season MLS match will be shown live in 2013. KSMO-TV, the team's official broadcast partner, will again carry all non-nationally televised regular season matches and will provide a 30-minute pre-game show prior to each of its matches.

- Sporting Kansas City will play 20 of their 34 regular season matches on Saturday's in 2013, including 10 home dates that fall on a Saturday. Of the remaining 14 MLS matches, six will be played on Sunday's, four on Friday's and four on Wednesday's.

- Sporting Kansas City will play on two holidays in the month of May, hosting Chivas USA on Cinco de Mayo live on UniMas before traveling one week later to Houston on Mother's Day live on ESPN.

- Sporting Kansas City will also host games the day before the following major holidays: St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Memorial Day and Independence Day.
Sporting Kansas City's longest road trip of the MLS season will come between games in New York on April 17 before flying directly to LA for a match on April 20. Approximately 2,791 miles separate Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ and the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

- Sporting Kansas City's shortest road trip will occur in two trips to play the Chicago Fire on July 7 and Aug. 23. Approximately 514 miles separate LIVESTRONG Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan. and Toyota Park in Bridgeton, Ill.

- Sporting Kansas City plays no more than two consecutive road MLS matches at any point during the regular season, but will start and end the campaign with three of four games away from home.

- On two occasions in 2013, Sporting KC will play a pair of games in a four-day span: at New York on April 17 then at LA on April 20 and two home games versus Chivas USA on May 5 and versus Seattle Sounders FC on May 8.
Sporting Kansas City's longest stretch between MLS matches comes following a home game against Montreal on June 1 and ending with a game at FC Dallas on June 22.

- Notable former players who could return to Kansas City in 2013 include Montreal midfielder Davy Arnaud on March 30 and June 1, as well as Portland Timbers duo Michael Harrington and Jack Jewsbury on April 27.
Among teams in the Eastern Conference, Sporting KC will play the New England Revolution and New York Red Bulls twice, coupled with three meetings scheduled against all other clubs in the East.

- Sporting Kansas City will travel twice to face the Philadelphia Union, Toronto FC, Houston Dynamo and Chicago Fire while hosting a pair of matches each against D.C. United, Montreal and Columbus.

- Sporting Kansas City plays each team in the Western Conference one time in 2013, traveling to take on the LA Galaxy, FC Dallas, Real Salt Lake and San Jose Earthquakes while hosting Portland Timbers, Chivas USA, Seattle Sounders, Vancouver Whitecaps and Colorado Rapids.

- Match times for Sporting Kansas City's trips to Montreal on July 27 and Toronto on Sept. 21 will be announced at a later date, pending the forthcoming TSN/TSN2 and RDS/RDS2 schedules.

- Currently, Sporting Kansas City is scheduled to play 10 matches with kick-off times prior to 5 p.m. CT and 22 matches with kick-off times after 5 p.m. CT.

- Major League Soccer announced on Wednesday that the 2013 MLS Cup will be played on either Dec. 7 or 8. The championship match will once again be played at the site of the team with the better regular season record.

Commissioner Garber is doing a league wide press conference at LSP tomorrow. There are rumors that the MLS All Star game will be in Kansas City this coming year.

The year after Becks is gone.

__________________Meet the new boss same as the old boss.

BigChiefDave:"Anyone who thought we would only be in Iraq for a few years is either stoned or just stoopid."
"It is unknowable how long that conflict will last. It could last 6 days, 6 wks. I doubt 6 mths." Rummy 2/7/03

On Thursday afternoon, Major League Soccer announced Kansas City and Livestrong Sporting Park will play host to the 2013 MLS All-Star Game on July 31. The opponent has not yet been announced.

The game will be broadcast live at 8:30 pm ET on the ESPN, Univision, TSN and RDS family of networks. Exact details will be announced at a later date.

The 2013 All-Star Game will cap three days of festivities and mark the 10th time MLS’ elite take the field against an international club, a group that includes Manchester United (2010, 2011), Chelsea (2006, 2012), Everton FC (2009) and Chivas de Guadalajara (2003).

The MLS All-Stars knocked off Chelsea, 3-2, at PPL Park in 2012, a late goal from Eddie Johnson deciding the match in favor of the hosts. Overall, the All-Stars are 6-2-1 against foreign club competition, and will be playing for the first time in Kansas City.

Since opening in June 2011, Livestrong Sporting Park has cemented itself as one of the nation’s premier soccer venues, hosting the US men and women, the 2012 US Open Cup championship and CONCACAF Gold Cup and Olympic qualifying matches. Sporting KC also sold out 17 of 18 MLS games during the 2012 season.